Twenty years after the Philippines kicked the U.S. military out of its huge bases – Clark for the Air Force, and Subic Bay for the Navy – Manila is now welcoming U.S. forces back into the country. “They can come here provided they have prior coordination from the government,” Philippine Defense Undersecretary Honorio Azcueta said earlier this week.

Who said China’s growing presence throughout the western Pacific – including a long-standing tug-of-war between Beijing and Manila over islands and mining rights in the South China Sea – doesn’t have its benefits?